Art of distilling oils



' 1,640,938 Aug. 30, 1927. F. A. HOWARD ET AL y ART OF DISTILLING OILS Filed April 1o, 1922 2 sheets-sheet 1 Gl N Crude 1,640,938. Aug' 30 1927' F. A. HOWARDl ET AL ART OF DISTILL'ING OILS www@ Mmmm@ MNM@ www@ .bmw a wm mw www, ,W l .bw w HZ- m mm a.

Patented Aug.' 30, 1,927.

Loomis, oFfniIzABETH, NEW JERSEY, As-

SIGNOR TO STANDARD DEVELOPMENT GOMPANY, A CORPORATION OF DELAWARE.

ABT or DISTAILLIN'G oILs.

` Application led April 10, 1922-. ASerialNo. 551,854,

Figure 1 illustrates diagrammatically an,

arrangement of apparatus for use inl connec tion with the present invention, and

Fig. 2 illustrates diagrammatically a modi-fied arrangementof apparatus, likewise I suitable for use in the practice of the presentinvention. v

Referring more particularly toA Figure 1 of the drawings, the numerals', 5a and 5b indicate stills. for example horizontal cylindricalvstills, of the usual type. 'Ihese stills.

are provided respectively with vapor lines 6,

6a.and 6b leadingto vapor heat exchangersl '7, 7a and 7l. From the'vapor exchangers,

vapor lines 8, 8a and 8b pass oil' through the y condenser boxes 9, 9a and 9b to suitable receivers (not shown). Thelcondensate lines 10, 10a and 10b likewise pass olf from the l'35. respective exchangers, through the condenser boxes, in which the condensates are cooled. The stills 5, 5"1 and 5b are provided with valved inlet linesll, 11a and 11b, and 'with valved outlet lines 12, 12a and12". Suitablev steam lines 13, 13a and 13b may'likewise be provided entering the stills. The crude oil tobe treated is forced by any suitable means, such as a pump (not shown) into themanifold 14, from which it,

passes into the vapor exchangers 7 ,-7anand 7b, as Well' as the exchangers 36, through the valved connectionsl. In these exchangers, the oil is heated by the vapors issuing from the stills 5, 5a and 5b andfrom'the vapor separators 34, and passes outthrough the valved connections'16, into the manifold 17. From the manifold 17 the preheated oil passes through line 18 into the line 11 leading to still 5; from this still residue is discharged through line 12 into the'line 19 from which it enters still throu h line 11?; from still 5 residue passes t rough line12a ito line 20, and from line 20 into still 5b through line 11b. The valved kbypassesl 21, 21 and ,2lb are provided so that any of'stills 5, 5a and 5" can be by-passed i desired. V

From the still 5b residues `pass through line 12b intovthe line 22, which leads to any suitable pumping device, for example a therein. -Which the oil may be brought in passing of the nature of gasoline.

master pump 23, which forces it into a'manifold 24. F rom'the manifold 24 the residues are forcedfby feedr pumps 25 which also serve as metering devices through lines 26 into heating coils 27, which form a part of a cdnverting system.` Any suitablevor desirable number of such heating coils may be l .i l v1*,eps4oa3s y UNITED As'lxxras P14:11?.NT. oFl-lCEe` FRANK a HOWARD AND NATHANmnn.

employed, two being illustrated in Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawing. The residues are forced by the feed pumps throu hthe heating coils 27 in the manner descri ed in our prior application Serial No. 471,737, fledMay 23, 1921. In passing through'the heating coils they are brought to a conversion temperature,/ the time of passage through the coils being such that only a small conversion' of the oil into lighter prod.- ucts ofthe nature of gasoline takes place. The velocity of ilow of the oil through the coils 27 is 1i ewise so adjusted that no appreciable deposition of coke will'take place The conversion temperature to through the coils 27, may be from 700 to 900 F., and is preferably in the order of 800 to 850 F.- Steam, water, hydrocarbon gas, gasoline or any other suitable inert yso material, normally in the vapor or gaseous l state at the temperatures prevailing in-the heating coils 27, may be introduced by means ofthe valve connections 28, if necessary or desirable to increase the velocityof flow of the oil through the coils. From the coils the heated oil `assesthrough lines 29 into the drums oren arged chambers 30, of which a plurality-may be provided for each of the ings, two of the enlargedA chambers or drums 30 are provided for each of the heating coils 27, connections being provided so that the oil maybeassed into either of these drums, or into bot simultaneously, In the drums 30 the heated oil is retained for a period sufficient' to ermit asubstantial conversion4 into low boiling point products, Vfor example,

may be thermally insulatedby any suitable means, or may `be mildly heatedI by some auxiliary heating device, "preferably using wasteheat or combustion gases, the external Atemperature used being, however,I not 'sulficiently high to raise the walls of the drums to a temperature above, say 900Cv ("Inthe heating coils, in the manner; described in our'-v These drums enlarged chambers 30 the oil is maintained at a conversion temperature, and leaves them at a temperature which is not higher than the .outlet temperature*from: the coils 27 and ordinarily 50 to 7 5 lower. All of the products of conversion pass out of the drums 30 together into the lines 31 provided with pressure release valves 32 and from these,

lines into the common line or manifold 33.

In passing through the ypressure release valves 32, the pressure upon the products of conversion' is Avery considerably. lowered,

say to a pressure of 10 to 50 pounds gauge.

From the line 33 the products of conversion enter the vapor separators 34 through valved lines 35. Any number of the vapor `separators 34 may be employed, two being shown in the accompanying drawing. In

' the vapor separators7 a. separation of the products into vapors and liquids or residues takes place. The vapors pass 0E through lines 35a into the exchangers 36, and from the latter vapor lines 38 pass off throu h suitable condenser coils (not shown) in the condenser boxes 39 and condensate lines 40 pass off through suitable cooling means in the. condenser boxes, or the condensate, without coolin may be returnedto the vapor i posed if desired (not shown).

An auxiliary line 48 communicates with the crude line 18 before the point of connection of the line 44 and is provided with a suitable valve 49. -A pum 50 connected with this line is adapted to ,orce oil into the line 51 communicating with the manifold 33.

In beginning operation with a suitable crude oil, for example, Burkburnett crude,

the oil is forced by any suitable pump through the manifold 14, the heat exchangers, the manifold 17 and the line 18Y Y linto' the crude stills 5, 5L and 5", which are operated as ordinary continuous crude stills to take olf as distillates up to about.50% of, the crude oil, steam being introduced, if desired, through the lines 13, 13a and 13b in the ordinary way. The oil passes successively through the stills, the by-pass valves 21, 21a and 21b being closed. The residue from the last still 5* passes out through connection 12b and line 22 to the master pump 23, the residue being at a temperature of 500 to 600 F. The master pump 23 forces the oil into the manifold 24, and from this it is heating coils 27 and the enlarged chambers I 30.` A suitable conversion temperature of say 750 to 900o F. is attained at the outlets of the heating coils 27, and is'substantially maintained in the enlarged chambers 30. In the lay-out illustrated in Fig. 1,`in which two of the enlarged chambers 30 are connected with each of the heating coils 27, the chambers 30 are preferably used alternately, one being cleaned while the other is in use. From the enlarged chambers 30 the conversion products pass through line 31 and pressure release valves into line 33, which leads to the vapor separators 34. In passing through the pressure release valve 32, the -pressure on the conversion products is reduced to 25 to 50 pounds per square inch. In the vapor separators 34, a separation of vapor and liquid products of conversion takes place, the vapor products, consisting largely of gasoline andkerosene-like fractions, passing off through vapor lines 35a to the heat exchangers 36. The heavier products con-v densed in the heat exchangers 36 pass through lines 40 to suitable receivers or optionally, are refluxed to the vapoi` separator through 40a, and the uncondensed products pass through lines 38 to suitable condensers and receivers.

The liquid residues separated in the vapor separators 34 pass out through lines 41 to the manifold 42, which is connected through pressure release valve 43, to the line 18 by which the preheated crude oil from the heat exchangers enters the first crude still 5. The addition of the tars from the separators to the incoming crude oil further preheats the latter. The tars from the vapor separators pass on` through the crude stills with the crude oil and are subjected to the same distilling conditions in passing therethrough. The proportion of tars or residues from the'vapor separators entering the crude line 18 may be Varied, any suitable proportion thereof being diverted from the line 42 into the tar cooler 46 by opening the valve 45 to any desired degree. If it is desired to cool the products of conversion entering the Vapor separators 34, this may be done by opening valve 49 and forcing crude oil 'from the line 18'to line 48 and line 51b y means of pumpv 50 into the line 33, in which they mingle with the products of conversion coming from the enlarged chambers and pass into the vapor separators. Of course, this Would not be done if valve 45 were open.

Although both ofthe vapor separators 34- verting coils and enlarged lchambers are -v dispensed with, the products of conversion being introduced directly "into the vcrude stills.y

s In Fig. 2, the numerals, 6o, 60a, cob, 60 and cl indicate stills, arranged in series. Each of the stills is provided with vapor lines 61 leading to a heat exchanger 62, in which a part of the heat of the vapors is emplo ed to preheat the incoming crude oil. Con ensates from the vapor heat exchangers 62 are discharged through condenser lines 63 and vapors from the exchangers are discharged through the cooler lines 64 to suitable receiving tanks (not shown). The numerals 65 indicate condenser boxes through which the lines 63 and 64 pass.

Crude oil enters the system through the manifold line 66, from which it passes -through valved connections 67 into the vapor heat exchangers 62. From the exchangers it passes through vvalved lines 68 into the manifold 69. The preheated oil from the manifold 69 passes through line 70 and the valved connection 72 into still 60.

From still 60 residues pass -through outlet line 73 into the yline 74 and from the vline 74 through the valved connections 72a into still 60a. In a similar Way the residues from, still 60a pass into still 60b and so on through the? series of stills, corresponding inlet and discharge lines being'l 'indicated b the same numerals with suffixes correspon ing to those of the stills. From the'still60, the residues pass through lines 73@ into the line 75 leading to the master pump 76. Valvedlby-pass connections 77 are provided so that any one of the stills'may be b -passed or the flow therethrough controlle Each of the stills -is likewise provided with a suitable steam connection 78,

The residues from still 60d, after leavin@ the master pump 76, pass into the manifold 78, from which they are drawn by feed .pumps 79 into the lines 80 leading to the heating coils 81 of the conversion system. In the heating coils they are brought ,to a conversion temperature, as described in connection with thel preceding embodiment of this invention, and immediately pass through lines 82 into the enlarged chambers 83, of which any number, for example two, may

be provided for each heating coil.' The operation of the heating coils l81 and the enlarged chambers 83 in effecting conversion of the residues is the same as described in the preceding example, the enlarged chambers being employed simultaneously oralternately, as desired. From thel enlarged chambers 83 the products pass through lines 84, in which pressure release valves 85 are provided, to a common line or manifold 86. As in the preceding example, the oil, in passing through the heating coils 81 and drunis 83, is maintained under a pressure suliicient to keep it in the liquid state until substantial conversion has been effected. The products ,of conversion, under the reduced pressure of, say, about 25 `pounds per square inch prevailing in the manifold 86, may be passed through valved lines 87 into the stills 60, 60"', 60", 60c and 60d. l Ordinarily, a part of the products of conversion are permitted to pass into each of the stills, although, if desired, one or more of the stills may be kept free from such products.

vThe manifold 86 likewise connects with a line 88 leading to a'cooling device 89, a valve i910 being provided to control the rate of In the operation of the apparatus illustrated in Fig. 2, the crude oil flows in succession through the stills 60, 60a, 60", 60c and 60d. The products of conversion in the manifold 86, which are at a high temperature. arev introduced in suitably proportioned amounts into the stills through the valved lines 87. The stills into which they are introduced consequently act also as separators for the vapor and liquid products of conversion, the latter following the course of travel of the crude oil through the series of stills. A part of the products of conversion may be passed from the line 86 to the cooling device 89, if, in any case, the\ total quan- 60, 60.l and 60", instead of into 'all of the stills.

sof

Although the present invention has been described in connection with specific forms of apparatus in which it may be practiced, it is not intendedthat the details of these embodiments shall be regarded as limitations upon the/scope of the invention, exceptin so far as included in the accompanying claims. i f We claim:

1.v The method ofdistilling and converting hydrocarbon oils which comprises passing the oil through a heated chamber in which its lighter constituents are removed,

eat conversion system 'wherein it is mainassing theresidues continuously through a t sion of said residues, separating said prodsuccession z passing ucts into liquid and vapor constituents, and conimingling at least part of the liquid constituents with fresh oil being subjected to fractional distillation.

2. 'Ihe method of distilling and converting hydrocarbon oilswhich comprises continuously performing the following steps in the oil through a heated zone\ not substantially above atmospheric pressure, removing vaporized constituents therefrom during said passage, heating the residues to a conversion temperature while under pressure, reducingtlie pressure on the products of conversion, separating vapor from liquid products and commingling separated liquid products of conversion with` fresh oil entering the process.

3. The method of distilling and converting hydrocarbon oils which comprises passing the oil successively through a series of stills wherein the lower boiling portions thereof are removed, passing the residues continuously 'through a converting system4 wherein they are subjected to a conversion ytemperature while being maintained at a pressure such that the oil is maintained substantially in the liquid state until a considerable conversion thereof has place, withdrawing the products of conversion from said converting system and -introducing at least a part of said products of conversion dinto the stills wherein the initial distillation of the oil takesplace.

4. The method of distilling and converting oils which comprises passing crude oil successively through a series of stills to remove the lower boiling fractions thereof, passing the residues from said oil continuously through a conversion system wherein they are subjected to a conversion tempera- .ture until a substantial conversion has taken place, maintaining a pressure upon the conversion system such that the oil is maintained in the liuqid state until a considerable conversion thereof has taken place, withdrawing the products of conversion from the converting system and reducing the pressure thereupon, separating the liquid and vapor products of conversion and admixing at least pa-rt of the liquid 'products of conversion with the crude oil entering the series of stills.

5. The method of distilling and converting hydrocarbon oils which comprises passing crude oil successively through a series of stills whereby the lower boiling point portions thereof are removed, forcing the residues continuously through a conversion system wherein they are brought to a contaken the oil iii the` conversion system sufficientA to keep the oil in the liquid state until substantial conversion thereof has taken place, simultaneously withdrawing the products of conversion from the lconversion system through a common line and reducing the pressure thereupon, and distributing at least a part of the-products of conversion among stills ofthe series of stills wherein the distillation of the ciude oil takes place,

whereby a separation of the vapoi and liq uid, products of conversion takes place therein simultaneously with the distillation of the crude oil. 6. In apparatus for the distillation an conversion of oils, a series of stills, means for passing oil successively through said stills, a converting system, means for forcing residues from the last of said stills to said .converting system under pressure,

means for withdrawing products of conversion from said converting system and for releasing the pressure thereupon, a common line into which Ythe products of conversion are received, separating chambersinto which said common line leads and wherein a separation of liquid and vapor products of conversion takes place, and means for introducing the liquid'products of conversioninto the series of stills.

7. In apparatus for the distillation and conversion of oils, a still, means for introducing oil into said still, a heated converting system, means for forcing residues from the still to said converting system under pressure, means for withdrawing products of conversion from said converting system and for relieving the pressure thereupon, a

separation chamber into which said prodnets of conversion are introduced and wherein a separation of liquid and vapor products of conversion takes place, and

means for introducing'the liquid productsl of conversion into the still.

v8. In apparatus for the distillation Land.

`conversion of oils,l a series of stills, means for passing oil successively through said stills, a heated converting system, means for forcing residues from the last ofV said stills to said converting system under pressure, means for withdrawing products of conversion from said converting system and for relieving the pressure? thereupon, a common yline into which the products 'of conversion are received, and means for introducing products of conversion from said line' into the several stills.

9. In apparatus for-the distillation and conversion of oils, a still, means for introducing oil into said still, a heated converting said still to said converting system under system, means for forcing residues from pressure, means for withdrawing products of conversion from said converting system and for relieving the pressure thereupon, a separating chamber into which said products are introduced and wherein a separation of liquid and vapor products of conversion takesplace, means for commingling the liquid products from said separating chamber with the oil entering the still, and

means for diverting at least a portion of said liquid products to a cooling device. Y

10. In apparatus for the distillation and conversion of oils, a series of stills, means ior passing oil successively through said stills, a heated converting system, means for forcing residuesfrom the last of said stills to said converting system under pressure, means for withdrawing products of conversion from said converting system and for relieving the pressure thereupon, a `commonline into which the products of conversion are received, a valved connection between said line and each of said stills,

a cooling device, and a valved connection between said line and said cooling device, whereby at least a part of the products of conversion in said common line may be diverted into said cooling device.

11. ln apparatus for the distillation and conversion of oils, a still, means for introducing oil into said still, a heated converting system, means for forcing residues from said still to 4said converting system under pressure, means for withdrawing products of kconversion from said converting system and for relieving the pressure thereupon, a common line into which the products of conversion are received, a valved connection between said line and the still, a cooling device, and a valved connection between the line and the cooling device whereby at least a part of the products of conversionl may be diverted to said cooling device.

FRANK A. HOWARD. NATHANIEL E. LooMIs. 

